Weak spending on health and foreign aid in the U.S. can carry severe economic repercussions and require more costly intervention at a later date to contain the pandemics, the world’s richest man warned.
“If there is anything that could horrifically go and kill millions of extra people, it would be an epidemic,” Gates said in the interview. Leaders such as U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis have recognized that “if you don’t have that aid budget, then it forces the military to have to buy more weapons.”
Gates said he’s expecting several more countries to join the fight against ailments that disable, disfigure and kill patients in the world’s poorest communities as his foundation commits an additional $335 million to the effort. Gates, who has a net worth of about $86 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has focused in recent years on global development and health through the foundation.
“We have a lot of allies in this war,” Gates said. “The traditional leaders on this have been the U.S. and the U.K. We’ll get four or five others to step up.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.